The present invention relates to a sun visor for motor vehicles having a cushioned sun visor body, which is embedded in a covering formed of two precut sheets that are heat sealed together circumferentially at their edges by high frequency welding. The body is stiffened by an incorporated reinforcement insert. The sun visor body has a swing mounting pin that is defined by the reinforcement insert and that is covered by the precut sheets.
A sun visor of this type is shown and described in Federal Republic of Germany AS No. 1,259,725. In that known sun visor, the swing mounting pin is formed from a free lying section of the inner support which is covered by the covering sheet. The swing mounting pin section of the support is reinforced in the region of the covered section by a sleeve which is covered by the covering sheet. The pin has laterally protruding wings for heat sealing to the sleeve. The sleeve is formed of two plastic sheets which are heat sealed together at their edges in the longitudinal central plane of the visor. For attachment of the plastic sheets to the swing mounting pin, a sleeve must consist of plastic material, which is capable of being heat sealed by high frequency and which therefore is inherently rather expensive. This is important particularly when the entire inner support together with the swing mounting pin is to consist of plastic, as proposed in Federal Republic of Germany AS No. 1,259,725. On the other hand, if the inner support comprises a wire frame, in accordance with Federal Republic of Germany AS No. 1,259,725, then it is necessary to roughen it by knurling in the region of the sleeve arranged thereon, and then to mount thereon a separately produced sleeve and to weld the precut sheets to it. Several process steps are necessary, which makes the manufacture difficult, delays it and increases the price of the sun visor.
Federal Republic of Germany AS No. 1,259,725 shows that the wings formed on the sleeve lie in the separating joint between the two sheet layers of the sleeve and thus in the plane of the welding electrodes. However, this does not assure a clean weld seam or a clean edge closure.
The swing mounting pin of a motor vehicle sun visor is a structural part which is subjected to high stresses. It not only functions as a swing mounting on the swinging up and down of the sun visor but, upon the swinging of the sun visor from the windshield to a side window, it is in each case constrained by the undercut mounting receiver of the outer support. In this connection, it must take up high clamping forces. There have been different proposals for arranging and shaping the swing mounting pin such that while it is as inexpensive to manufacture as possible, it cannot be easily damaged.
Thus, Federal Republic of Germany OS No. 2,851,485 describes a method of manufacturing a sun visor in which one of the longitudinal sides of a foam core is provided with a cutout, and an arm of stiff thermoplastic material, which passes through that cutout, and the sun visor core are wrapped with two soft thermoplastic sheets without cutout which can be connected together along the outer circumference of the foam core and loosely surround the arm in the region of the cutout. To permanently connect the clamping arm to the soft thermoplastic material of the cap elements without the soft thermoplastic material becoming detached from the arm after lengthy use, the arm, together with the two sections of the sheets resting on it, are clamped between two sonotrodes adapted to the shape. The sheets are then welded together to the arm by ultrasonics over the entire region of the arm. Although it appears conceivable that this method produces a permanent bond between the clamping arm and the thermoplastic covering, at least one additional operation and the provision of an additional manufacturing device are necessary for this. As a result, the cost of manufacture of the sun visor is increased.
Federal Republic of Germany OS No. 3,008,361 describes a sun visor for motor vehicles which has a swing mounting pin which is covered with precut sheets. In order to protect the covering of the swing mounting pin from damage, a sleeve surrounds the swing mounting pin and its covering. This cannot be satisfactory either, because manufacture of this sleeve and its necessary mounting result in additional operations and expenses.
The conditions are similar in the case of the sun visor known from Federal Republic of Germany OS No. 3,342,897 in which the swing mounting pin is formed, in whole or in part, from a plastic body which is extruded directly onto a region of the covering.
Federal Republic of Germany OS No. 3,134,400 (and also see Federal Republic of Germany OS No. 3,307,008) deal with the manufacturing problem of effecting the attachment of the swing mounting pin in the cushioning body so that its covering with the sheet like sleeve is not prevented by the swing mounting pin. The covering causes the cushioning body to be covered on each side with a sheet, and the two sheets are then welded together in a single operation along the edge of the sun visor body, following its contour.
The above publication indicates that the problem can be solved in two different ways. In one solution, the swing mounting pin is included in the sheet like covering, i.e. by also covering the swing mounting pin with the sheet. In the other solution, the swing mounting pin is fastened in a mounting body provided for this purpose only after the manufacture of the sheet like sleeve, it being guided by edge side openings in the sheet.
Federal Republic of Germany OS No. 3,134,400, which refers to the second solution with a free lying swing mounting pin, concerns a sun visor wherein the swing mounting pin, which is straight from end to end, has its end regions inserted through openings in the sleeve and in each case into a plug hole in one or the other arm of an approximately U-shaped holding yoke fastened within the sleeve in the sun visor body and it is secured in the one plug hole against rotation and in the other plug hole against axial displacement with respect to the holding yoke. In this known proposal, it is necessary to incorporate in the sun visor body a holding yoke which is separately manufactured and mounted. This makes the manufacture of the sun visor difficult and considerably more expensive. In particular, however, it is necessary to first introduce the swing mounting pin into the one plug hole which permits axial displacement, and only after the swing mounting pin has been introduced into it, to push the swing mounting pin back into the other plug hole, to effect the axial locking, possibly with the use of a snap effect. This type of mounting requires at least a considerable amount of dexterity and, viewed as a whole, appears extremely time consuming and work consuming.
As has been made clear by the prior art cited, solutions which are directed at not including the swing mounting pin of a sun visor within the sheet like covering do not represent useful alternatives, if only for reasons of expense. The present invention is therefore concerned with a sun visor in which the swing mounting pin is also to be covered with a sheet, as known from Federal Republic of Germany AS No. 1,259,725.